As the lights out for one hour from 8.30 pm local time "vote for earth"
event headed towards the Middle East, Europe and Africa it appeared
participations was soaring into the hundreds of millions..

Earlier, South Korea’s leading global citizen, UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon had described WWF’s Earth Hour as "the largest demonstration of
public concern about climate change ever attempted."

"Earth Hour is a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear
message they want action on climate change," he said, looking forward
to the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December which
is charged with coming up with a replacement to the expiring — and
inadequate — Kyoto Protocol.

"People will be telling their representatives to seal a deal in
Copenhagen," he said. "We need an ambitious agreement. An agreement
that is fair and effective. An agreement based on sound science."

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The number of cities, towns and municipalities registered to take part
in the global vote continued to rise as the event was under way,
reaching 3943 communities from 88 countries spread over 25 time zones
as Asia took over from Oceania as the focus of Earth Hour.
The explosive growth of the event, going from two million people from
just one city in 2007 to 53 million in 371 cities in 35 countries in
2008 reflects growing global concern over climate change and the
inability of the world so far to craft an effective global response,
WWF said.
WWF International Director General James Leape said "Earth Hour is off
to a great start with millions of people switching their lights off
from tiny island communities in the Pacific to major cities like Sydney
and Beijing." "This promises to be an amazing 24 hours - a powerful call for action on climate change."